New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has revealed a coalition with Labour is off the cards because "they can't be trusted".
The former Deputy Prime Minister formed a coalition Government with Labour in 2017, with NZ First receiving a crucial 7.2 percent of the vote. But Peters was kicked out of Parliament at the 2020 election, where his party received just 2.6 percent of the vote.
Peters has previously hinted against a coalition with Labour, saying at an NZ First conference in October he will refuse to join into Government with Labour again as long as it continues to push for Māori co-governance.
However, on Saturday he dropped the news that he is "most definitely" ruling out working with a Jacinda Ardern-led Government in an interview with the NZ Herald.
"No one gets to lie to me twice," Peters told the outlet.
"We are not going to go with the Labour Party, this present Labour Party crowd, because they can't be trusted. You don't get a second time to lie to me, or my party and they did."
Peters has long claimed that when he was Deputy Prime Minister, his party was not informed of the controversial He Puapua report, which sets out a roadmap to co-governance between the Crown and Māori by 2040. These claims were dismissed by Ardern.
But that doesn't mean Peters is going to jump ship over to the National Party, saying he isn't "rushing off" to the other side.
NZ First is gaining support with the latest Newshub-Reid Research Poll finding the party had doubled its support to 3.3 percent, up 1.6 points.
But with election year right around the corner, NZ First will still need to rustle up more support to hit the 5 percent threshold needed to get back into Parliament.
